


Bringing Down The Castle

by Small_Hobbit



Category: Spooks | MI-5
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, M/M, when good guys go bad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-08
Updated: 2018-06-08
Packaged: 2019-05-19 20:49:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,201
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14880956
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Small_Hobbit/pseuds/Small_Hobbit
Summary: In an Alternate Universe Lucas North returns from Russia with very definite plans, ones which Harry Pearce will not like at all.





	Bringing Down The Castle

**Author's Note:**

> Written for LJ's WhatIf AU "When good guys go bad" Challenge.

“I got rid of those two mattresses.”

“Did you have any trouble doing so?”  The speaker’s accent betrayed his Russian origins, although at first sight he would have blended in with the financiers who were milling around the fountain in the midday heat.

“No.  Two separate fires in two separate skips, and nothing to connect them,” Lucas North replied.

“What if the fire brigade get curious and start to investigate?”

“Nah, they’ve got better things to do than look at fires in run down areas.  Bored kids, a fag end tossed away, even a spark from a firework released as part of a wedding celebration.  You worry too much.”

“And you worry too little.  If the mattresses weren’t destroyed properly the blood stains will be visible.”

“Stop fretting.  And give me the papers.  I can’t hang around here too long, or someone will start to get suspicious.  If you remember, two of our operatives have gone missing.”

The Russian snorted.  He passed over an envelope.  Lucas opened it, glanced at the contents and nodded.  Then he turned and swiftly walked away.

Once out of sight of the Russian, Lucas slowed again.  He could hear footsteps behind him, and a quick glance at the reflection in an office window confirmed it was Adam Carter who was approaching him.

“Were you successful?” Adam asked, as he reached Lucas’ shoulder.

“Oh yes,” Lucas replied.  “Everything’s ready for when we need to leave.”

“How long do we have?”

“Five days tops.”

“That should be plenty of time.”

Adam turned into a side road, heading back to the Grid, leaving Lucas to take a longer route back, which he justified by stopping at a sandwich shop on the way.  It was vital no-one in Section D suspected there was any relationship between the two of them, other than that of a colleague.

As soon as Lucas arrived back at the Grid, Ros Myers said, “Harry wants a word with you.”

Lucas looked lovingly at his second sandwich, which was still uneaten, shrugged, and took it out of the bag.  He began eating it as he crossed the floor to Harry’s office, where he knocked on the door.

“Come in,” Harry called and then added, “Oh, don’t let me stop you eating your lunch, Lucas.”

“I won’t,” Lucas said, through a mouthful of bread.

Harry began to give Lucas his instructions.  Listening, Lucas realised that, if he were to follow them, he would be unable to help Adam with the next part of their task.  Nevertheless, he agreed to what he was being asked to do.  Once Harry had finished speaking to him, Lucas returned to his desk and started processing the data which had come in that morning.

Partway through the afternoon, Lucas looked out of the window, and said, “I could just fancy an ice cream.”

There was general laughter at this remark, and then Adam added, “You can always buy one when you leave.”

Slowly, the other members of Section D left to follow up their own roles, until just after four o’clock Lucas stood up, and said goodbye to Malcolm, before heading out.  He turned into St James’ Park and smiled when he saw Adam holding two ice creams.

“I realise your coded comment didn’t necessitate buying these, but it seemed a good idea anyway,” Adam said.

Lucas accepted the ice cream and said, “Harry’s getting suspicious.”

“He’s not getting any more suspicious than he was; you know he’s never entirely trusted you.  But it is making things difficult for us.”

“Can we speed things up?”

“Yes.  How fast?”

“Tonight.”

“Both of us?”

“Yes.  This time we go together or not at all.”  Lucas took Adam’s hand and squeezed it.

“That will raise suspicions – we’ll need to sacrifice someone.”

“My contact from this morning will be perfect, and he’ll be easy to set up!”

Adam squeezed Lucas’ hand in his turn.  “Excellent.  I’ll meet you later.”

#####

Harry Pearce looked at Ros Myers.  “Still no sign of Adam?”

“No.  We know he was following up a lead just before eight o’clock last night.  After which he just vanished.  It’s exactly the same as the other two.”

“And North?”

“No contact since he left yesterday afternoon.  But since he’d been told specifically to stay off air we don’t know when his movements deviated from his orders.”

An exclamation from Malcolm caused them both to turn in his direction.  “The police have received reports of a partly burned body found in a skip.”

“Whose?” Harry snapped.

“Unknown at present, but the description doesn’t match either Adam or Lucas.”  Malcolm continued the search on his computer.  “Although strangely, this seems to be the third skip fire in two days.  There’s a note saying the earlier two were marked as suspicious due to the complete destruction of the contents.”

“Were they followed up?”

“On a list for follow up when staffing levels permit.”

“In other words,” Ros said, “leave long enough and the evidence will be too old to be concerned about.”

“Get some of our forensic team onto it and get the identity of the body as soon as possible,” Harry ordered.

Just before lunchtime Malcolm informed Harry the body was that of a minor FSB official.  It didn’t take long for the remaining team at Section D to discover a link between him and Lucas, sufficient for Harry to order an all ports call for Lucas North to be tracked and detained.

Partway through the afternoon, they got word that there was evidence of blood in the two skips, and with the aid of personnel from one of the other sections, the bodies of the two missing agents were discovered.  Harry was furious and ordered the redoubling of efforts to find Lucas.  In addition Section D were desperately trying to track down Adam, although they suspected he too had been killed.

Shortly after six o’clock, Malcolm said, “I’ve just received a report of Lucas being sighted, but it’s in Russian controlled territory.  I’m tracking back to see how he got there.”

It took a while, but finally Malcolm found some cctv footage.  “It appears he wasn’t travelling alone,” he said.  “Let me see if I can improve the image and we may be able to see who his companion is.”

Malcolm worked on the image whilst Harry and Ros watched.  When the outline was clear enough to be recognised they turned to each other, “Adam!”

#####

“This is the life,” Lucas said.  He stretched out his legs on the lounger by the pool, and sipped his drink.

“Agreed,” Adam replied.  “Do you regret anything?”

“Not at all.  Well, yes, those eight years when I only got to see you occasionally.”

“True, Harry Pearce didn’t really make much effort to get you back.”

Lucas grinned.  “Although it did give him longer to build his castle.  With the result the crash when it came down must have been even louder.”

“I hear the whole of Section D has been disbanded.  No-one’s going to trust anyone from there when they’re redeployed.  And there’s a high chance Harry will be indicted.”

“Serves him right.”  Lucas stood up.  “How about a swim, and then some sex before lunch?”

“Sounds good to me!”

 


End file.
